Saturday, May 14, 2011

Bi-Winning

There is no such thing as an unmixed blessing. For every upside, there is a downside. It's part of the physics of life.

For example, if I were to win the lottery (which I won't because I don't buy tickets) and trade in my amazingly large mom-mobile and drive off the lot a brand new sexy Porsche, my insurance rates would go up, I'd probably get tons of speeding tickets, and my husband would be cross because my Porsche couldn't haul a half sheet of ply from Home Depot.

The Bible tells us that children are a blessing, and that's true. But along with the blessing part comes the bleary-eyed, awake all night, baby screaming, poopy-diaper-that-leaked-and-soiled-the-whole-outfit part. And just because they grow up doesn't mean the poop stops.

Going on a dream vacation to the tropics also means that you have to deal with the TSA, time changes, rental hassles, lost luggage, and possibly bringing home a tropical disease as a souvenir.

Recently, though, I think I might have found a crack in this otherwise iron-clad rule.

Ice cream is one of my favorite things about summer. I keep my ice cream maker humming busily all summer long. But that means that the egg whites pile up in my refrigerator. Since I pay out some big bucks to buy free-range organic chicken eggs, I'm not about to just toss out those egg whites! But what is one to do with 5 egg whites?

In another post, I explained what to do with 6 egg whites, but it was with glee that I found a delicious way to use 5. Angel Food Cupcakes. And the best part for me is that cupcakes are so easy to share! You can put 6 in a box and it's an extravagant gift. Try putting 6 slices of angel food cake in a box. Not so impressive.

* If you don't have superfine sugar on hand, you don't need to run to the grocery store for it. Just throw regular granulated sugar into your food processor and run it till the sugar is fine. Not too long, though, or you'll end up with powdered sugar!

1 - Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

2 - In a small bowl, sift together cake flour and 1/4 cup superfine sugar.

3 - In a large bowl, beat room-temperature egg whites until foamy, then add in cream of tartar and salt. Gradually add in the remaining 1/2 cup of superfine sugar while the mixer is on high speed, beating the egg whites to soft peaks. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in the vanilla and lemon zest.

4 - Fold in flour mixture, adding it in two or three additions.

5 - Divide evenly into prepared muffin tins. Fill them almost full.

6 - Bake for 16-18 minutes, until golden brown. The tops will spring back when lightly touched.

7 - Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes to the wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon Icing Drizzle

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Confectioner’s Sugar

Add enough confectioner's sugar to the lemon juice to make a drizzling consistency. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle on top of cooled cupcakes.

Makes 12 - 16 cupcakes. (The recipe says it makes 12, but mine made 15, I think because of the size of my farm eggs.)

Cute cupcakes and bet they would be great with some strawberries and whipped cream...strawberries on the brain right now...but Dorie Greenspan's perfect party cake will use up three egg whites if you divide em up that way when making the ice cream. Lucky friend who gets a box with 6 of these little beauties!